The Tinker Room

Term three Blog: The Tinker room 

By Isaac

In this term we (that is, Brayan, Landon, and I) made Paloma's Tinker Room and I was put in charge of the project. First, we measured the completely empty room and made a CAD (computer aided design) model of that room. In that model we put in shelves, tables, and drawers then we went to the actual room and installed shelves, tables and drawers. We also made a metal on one of the walls so that we could stick magnets to it. We also put together a whole bunch of challenges and projects to be done in the tinker room. You may be wondering what exactly is this tinker room? What is it for? Why is it important? Well, the tinker room, inspired by the Lancaster Science Factory, is a place where the students of Paloma of all ages will be able to learn about STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in a way that is fun and hands-on. At Paloma this is important because learning hands-on is a part of the Charlotte Mason ideology. Another thing you might be thinking is, what challenges would help you learn things like math and engineering in a hands-on and fun way? Let me answer by giving you an example of how challenges will help students learn with a fun and hands-on experience. One of the challenges I wrote is the Spaghetti Tower Challenge. In this challenge, students  will take some raw spaghetti and tape and build a tower out of it that can hold a marshmallow on top while being unsupported. So students are engineering their own building frame and calculating if it can stand alone. I really enjoyed building and generally putting this project together. I volunteered to make the tinker room and so, I am looking forward to using this room with all of the students and I hope they do too.